The last few weeks of Bowl-watching on ESPN have often felt like a commercial on the YES Network with all the promos for this game. PRIDE. TRADITION. HISTORICAL PROGRAMS. Old audio playing back: "I thank the good lord for making me an Alabaman."

No more promos now, though—just football. And, boy, has it been a while. Notre Dame last played the Saturday after Thanksgiving; Alabama a week after that. So let's see if they remember how to do it. While watching, feel free to peruse our National Championship-related content. and, of course, yak it up in the comments.

The Hater's Guide To Notre Dame | I hate Notre Dame for the exact same reasons I hate Tim Tebow. It's an underperforming football entity with an irritating tribal gloss of holiness, which gets far too much acclaim and adulation when it happens to succeed. The Fighting Irish belong with the Red Sox, the Yankees, Twilight, Taylor Swift, and any other property that is artificially relevant because the media wastes so much fucking time telling you how relevant they are.